Feeder for molten glass



Feb. 1954 E. VAN DE WALLE ET AL 266 06 FEEDER FOR MOL.TEN GLASS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec. 8, 1951 /NVENTORSI EDMDND VAN DE WHLLE E. VAN DE WALLE ET AL 2 8 FEEDER FOR MOLTEN GLASS Filed Den. 8, 1951 z Shets-Sheet 5 EDMoA/b v)m DE WALLE, CHARLES ww DE WLLE, 1qul EMILE GoNNEFO Patentecl Feb. 23, 1954 z,ssesos FEEDER FOR MOLTEN GLASS Edmond Van de Walle, Neuilly-sur-Seine, Charles Van de Walle, Paris, and Emile Bonnefoy, La- Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, France Application December 8, 1951, Serial No. 260,692

Claims priority, application France December 31, 1948 6 Claims.

This application is a continuation-in-part of the U. S. Patent application Ser. No. 135,418, fi1ed on December 28, 1949, and now abandoned.

It is a well-known fact that the machines used for the production of glass objects are fed by means of distributors of molten g1ass generally called eeders, which latter deposit automatically into a mo1d or on the casting tab1e a redetermined amount of molten glass corresponding to the amounts required for the production of the objects considered. But it is very difficult with the arrangements used heretofore, to measure exactly the amount of glass distributed for each operation, on one hand and to center correctly said mass of glass with reference to the opening in the casting tab1e through which it is to be brought under the action of the b1owing means, on the other. Furthermore, the transportation of the mass of glass from the receivng station up to the operating station is also a source of considerable difliculty.

This invention relates to improvements to the feeding device of rotary machines for the blowing of articles such as lamp bulbs, flasks, or other thin hollow articles, in which machines the gobs of glass are delivered n successive blowing ports distributed around a rotative work-table, then blown by the means of movable blowing heads intc molds located be1ow said ports. The rotary machine may be for example of the general type such as describecl in the U. S. Patent No. 2,405,557 but without any stamping device of the molten glass on the rotary part of the machine.

Preferably, the delivery of gobs is effected according to such a method as described in the Same U. S. Patent specification No. 2405,557 which method consists in delivering the gob in such a manner that the bu1b or other ware is made from the central part of said gob, and that both severed ends of the gob are in the part theraof which goes to cullet, that is in a chilled ring of glass which remains on the upper part of the table so as to support the glassware during the blowing thereof and which is cut off when once the glassware has been blown and is to be ejected from the turret machine. With this -end in view, the gobs are dropped on to an incurved chute, so as to be delivered on to the receiver with their long axis in a horizontal position instead of vertical.

The improvements provided according to my invention have for their object to produce a feeder allowing measuring and. accurately centering in its operative position the amount of. molten glass required for each operation while ensuring its transportation from its casting and spreading point up to its point of drawing and blowng on the casting table or up to the parison mold.

This improved feeder comprises chiefiy a movable head adapted to sink over the mass of glass 1aid on the receiver plate and inside which may be exerted under the operators contro1 alternatively a reduced pressure for spreading and flattening out sad mass of glass and allowing its subsequent transportation, and an increased pressure or correctly positioning the mass aoove the drawing and blowing port on the casting table.

The arrangement is advantageously associated with a water cooling system for the head of the feeder and the glass-receiver plate in order to provide for the protection of said parts and to allow an easier subsequent loosening of the glass.

We have illustrated by way of example in accompanying drawings a preferred. embodiment of the improved feeder according to 0111 inventien, said embodiment being illustrated in its successive operative positions. In said drawings:

Figs. 1 and 1a of the drawings are two vertical vews perpendicular to one another of the arrangement as the molten glass sinks onto the receiver plate.

Fig. 2 is a view of the movable eeder head when ccoperating with said receiver plate for spreacling out the glass.

Fig. 3 shows the receiver plate at the beginning of its downward motion under the movable head ready for transportation of the glass mass.

Fig. 4 illustrates the head when in vertical register with the glass drawing port after it has leid on the casting tab1e the suitab1y shaped and flattened-out mass of glass.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of the feeding device, the movable head being shown in vertical register with a port of the work table of the molding machine- Fig. 6 is a diagrammatical view in which the movable head is shown in register with the receiver p1ate.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the camshaft of the feeding device, and of the organs controlled by said camshaft.

As apparent from inspection of Figs. 1 to 4, the g1ass mass I al1ing in measured amounts from the casting spout 2 opening out of the hearth of the melting furnace is guided by a channel 3 onto the receiver or operating p1ate of the machine. Said p1ate 4 is preferably coo1ed by a circulation of water 5 as illustrated.

A movable ho1low head 6 is mounted for horizontal reciprocation on a horizontal arm I2 which is slidable in a cylinder I3 provided with a p1unger piston I4. 'Ihis arm I2 is directed according to a radial line of the rotary machine I5 to be fed. This rotary machine is diagrammatically shown on Fig. 5. It comprises a worktable II provided with blowing-ports II) regular1y distributed around, said work tab1e being actuated in continuous rotation by a drivng shaft 22; shiftable blowing heads I6 are provided on said working-table in the vicinity of the blowing ports II), and molds lila are provided under said ports I. the cylinder I3 is controlled by an air valve II which is actuated by cams I8 of a camshaft I9. This camshaft is driven through gears '21), H by the actuating shaft 22 of the rotary machine I5. The gear ratios between the different rotatve organs are such that for a rotation of the work piate II, the camshaft I9 effects n rotations, n being the number of blowing-ports I distributed around the work-table II. The arm I'2, which carres the movable head 6 is situated just above the level of the work tab1e II, and is longitudinally reciprocated under the control of cams I8 and pressure-air valves II, with a short station at each one of the extreme positions.

The receiver p1ate 4 is slidably reciprocable according to a vertica1 direction, and the reciprocation of this plate is effected, in the same way as that of head 6, by an air operated plunger 23 controlled by an air valve 24 actuated by cams 25 of the camshait I9. Said receiver plate 4 is in vertical register with the furthermost position of the reciprocable head 6 in relation with the work tab1e I I (See Fig. 6). The opposite extreme position of head 6 is located just above the circu- 1ar path of the ports IU of the work plate II (see Fig. The cams I8 which control the reciprocation of arm I2 and head 6, are set on the camshaft I9 in such angular positions that head 6 is stationary in the 1atter said extreme position at the moment when one of the n ports I0 is passing under that extreme position.

In its lowermost position, the receiver p1ate 4 is in register with the end of chute 3 for receiving the gobs I. The contro1 cams 25 of the plunger 23 are set on the shaft I9 in such an angu1ar position that plunger 23 and p1ate 4 stay for a moment in their lowermost position for receiving the gob I and are quickly 1ifted up to their uppermost position so as to arrive at said position just at the moment when the head 6 is stationary in its corresponding extreme position. In this register position of head 6 and plate 4, a determined and constant short distance remains between the 1ower edge of head 6 and the upper ace of p1ate 4, due to the construction tse1f of the device. In this way, the gob I is stamped between plate 4 and head 6 S0 as to be shaped into a bulky central mass 26 surrounded by a flat ring 26a of g1ass integra1 with said centra] mass. This ring 26a is quickly chilled whereas the central mass remains at higher temperature and is still in the mo1ten state when the stamped gob is subse- The admission of pressure air into 4 quently transported on to the blowing-port of the work-table I I. It is to be noted that if the gob I is delivered on the receiver plate 4 by the means of an incurved chute 3 S0 as to have its longitudinal axis in horizontal position, the severed end of the gob I is at the periphery of the same when stamped between head 6 and tab1e 4, and is thus incorporated in the ring 26a destined to be cut 01 from the hol1ow b1own object.

'Iwo shearing b1ades 21 are provided just under the discharge orifice of the foreheaith which contains the molten glass, and these shearng blades are periodically actuated by means of a Cardan shaft 28, of sprocket-wheels 38, 39 and -chain 40, and of cam-and-follower mechanisms (not shown) actuated by the sprocket-wheel 39 and destined to produce both a vertica1 reciprocation of a feeding plunger 4I and opposite reciprocations of the shearing-blades 21 in synchronismwith the vertical reciprocation of said plunger so as to cut off and deiiver successive gobs I with the same period as the reciprocating motions of head 6 and p1ate 4. Such a delivery mechanism of gobs is described in detail in applicants U. S. patent application Serial No. 778,936 now abandoned. The shaft 28 is driven by the driving shaft 22 of the rotary machine I5, with such a gear ratio that when the work-table I I performs a rotation, the shearing blades are actuated n times. Moreover means 29a are provided in this transmission device for adjusting exactly in time the moment when the shearing operation is effected, in view of the 1apse of time which takes p1ace between the severing of the gob and the moment when the gob arrives on the receiver p1ate 4. If the conditions of temperature of the molten g1ass and the composition of said g1ass are nvariable, the gobs delivered by suoh a device are near1y constant in weight. In spite of this approximate invariability, the exact constancy of the weight of the g1ass objects results from the nature of the mechanism, as further described and explaned.

The movable hollow head 6 is provided with a wide vertical bore 29, in which is held, by the means of a threaded stem 30 an inner block 1 that assumes a suitable concave outline 3I so as to give to the glass mass I the desired shape as illus trated in Fig. 2. Besides, the position of said b1ock 'I may be adjusted longitudinally inside the movable head 6 in accordance with the volume of molten g1ass to be fed in the operations; this adjustment is effected by inserting, between the upper part of block 1 and the upper end of bore 29, one or severai less or more thck gaskets 32 providing a tight separation between the bore 29, which is destined to be connect-ed with an external source of vacuum, and the upper chamber 33 which is provided for the circulation of cooling water. A reduced pressure, as produced by a pump or any 1ike external souroe of vacuum can be exerted through the pipe 8 inside the movable head 6 and around the member l. An air pressure may be exerted in the same way through the pipe 8a. Coo1ing means including a pipe 9 for the circulation of water inside cham ber 33 are provided inside the movable head 6 S0 as to prevent an excessive heating thereof. The pipes 8 and 3a are connected through flexible ducts 34, 35 respectively with a vacuum sonrce and with pressure air. A conventionrl valve 36, adapted for stopping eitherone of these ducts, or both, is controlled by cams3'l of. the camshaft I9. These cams 31 aieset on said shaft I9 in such angular postions that. on the 5. A glass blowng machine comprsng a rotatng workng tab1e having b1owing ports clrcularly and regularly distrbuted thereon, a device for delivering gobs of molten g1ass onto said ports, sad device comprising a mevable head. havng a cavity at its lower part and mounted for recprocaton between a first extreme positon above the crcular path of the blowng ports and. a second extreme poston outside the workng-table, 2, recever reeprocable between two extreme positons and adaptecl for stamping eooperation in one of ts extreme postons with the lower part of said head when this latter is in its second extreme poston, the head and receiver being spaced a. short distance when said head is in sad second poston, means for delverng gobs of molten =glass onto sad receiver when in its other extreme positon, means for exerting a sucton in the cavty of the head and thereby retaning in the same a gob of molten glass, means for exertng a pressure in sad cavty and thereby ejecting sad gob rom sad head, and means for period-cally and selectvely actuating said gob-delivering means,

sad receiver, sad head, said suction meaus and sad. pressure means, in synchronsm with the rutatve moton of the workng-table.

6. A glass blowng machine comprisng a rotatng werking tab1e having blowng ports circularly and regularly dstributed thereon, and a, device accordng to claim 5, the head havng a, vertcal bore and en bleek fixed in sad bore and provided wth a cavty at ts lower end.

EDMOND VAN DE WALLE. CHARLES VAN DE WALLE. EMILE BONNEFOY.

References Cited in the file 0f this patent UNITED STATES PA'I'ENTS Number Name Date 1260,637 Canfield Mar. 26, 1918 1,271,961 Teeple July 9, 1918 1,415824 Ferngren May 9 1922 1,845491 Eckert Feb. 16, 1932 1,845,525 S1oan Feb. 16, 1932 2,405,557 Bonnefoy-Cudraz Aug. 13, 1946 

